Objects of Worship

The strange is matter-of-factly mundane in Canadian author and editor Lalumière's collection of 10 reprinted and two original stories of the surreal and fantastic. Deities and spiritual grace are both unfathomably alien and somehow less than you might expect when Lucifer makes a deal with the phone company (“A Place Where Nothing Ever Happens”) and likewise in the title story, where keeping your gods satisfied is like caring for extra-finicky but disturbingly powerful cats. Lalumière's love of comic book heroes informs the antics of “Hochelaga and Sons,” “Spiderkid” and “Destroyer of Worlds,” and the daily lives of zombies set the stage for the blackly comedic “The Ethical Treatment of Meat” and “A Visit to the Optometrist.” Even when the plots aren't quite enough to carry Lalumière's curious ideas, they're still intensely memorable. (Nov.)